Refocusing Healthcare Software from Hospital Platform to Laboratory Management System

Description and use

The developer pivoted their healthcare software project from a broad hospital management platform to a focused laboratory management system (nanoLabs). By removing unnecessary features and roles, they achieved clearer validation and a more manageable product scope.

Problem

The developer was attempting to build a comprehensive hospital management platform, resulting in scope creep, unclear workflows, and assumptions about problems not fully understood across diverse departments (doctors, nurses, labs, admin, finance).

Outcome

By removing features and narrowing the scope to laboratory management, the developer transformed an ambiguous, over-ambitious hospital platform into a focused, validatable product called nanoLabs. This shift allowed for better decision-making and a clearer path to market validation.

Workflow

• Identify the core problem space where the developer has the clearest connection and experience.
• Analyze the ecosystem to distinguish between different user roles and workflows.
• Remove features, roles, and workflows that do not belong to the core problem.
• Refine product questions to be specific to the narrowed scope (e.g., 'How does a test move through the workflow?').
• Rebuild the MVP with a clear purpose focused on the specific user group.
• Validate the focused solution with the target audience.

Evidence

Instead of building for every department in a hospital, I decided to focus on laboratories. That meant removing features. Removing roles. Removing workflows that didn't belong to the core problem.

Source

A smaller market can be easier to understand. A narrower workflow can be easier to validate.

Source